Tuesday night, Bellwood-Antis squared off against a team that may have given Blue Devil fans a glimpse of what their own team may be like in two years. Seniors Fred Scharrs and Garrett Speck led the Rockets to a 48-38 victory while being guarded most of the night by sophomores Ben Hatch and Alan Wertz.
Scharrs\’ 12 points led the well balanced Rockets\’ offense and Speck blocked nearly all of the Blue Devils\’ shots inside the paint.
\”I think we got a little bit intimidated. I think Speck sent a couple of shots back at us and we didn\’t take quick shots that we had, because he caused us to hesitate and hurry shots from the outside,\” Bellwood-Antis Head Coach Tim Keech said.
Although Speck dominated defensively, he managed only six points against Wertz, who had three games in a row with a double-double before he was held to four points Tuesday.
\”I think Alan did a good job defensively on Speck. I think he made him work, but in the end you\’re looking at a 10th grader going against a senior; this is his fourth year playing and his dad is the girls\’ coach so he knows the game, and he can play,\” Keech said.
With Speck sealing off the paint, Bellwood-Antis was forced to fall back on their outside shooting ability, which has either been very hot or very cold this season.
Paul Christner gave Blue Devils fans hope of a hot-shooting night with a 3-pointer to open the game, and Blaze Winterstein sank one of his own moments later to give Bellwood-Antis a six-point lead early.
Johnny Nevder halted the early run with a layup, and Matt Baer was fouled by Winterstein while shooting a jump shot on the Rockets\’ next possession. Baer made one of two free throws, but more importantly, Winterstein picked up his second foul in the early going and left for the remainder of the quarter.
Meanwhile, Southern Huntingdon took the lead with nine unanswered points before Hatch scored on a fast break layup after pulling the ball behind his back to avoid a steal on the drive to make the score 9-8.
Scharrs added a layup to put the Rockets up by three after the first quarter, but his basket was the first in an 8-0 Southern Huntingdon run that put the Blue Devils at a 17-8 disadvantage.
A 9-2 Bellwood-Antis run cut the lead to four before Baer was fouled shooting a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer. Baer made two of the three foul shots to give the Rockets a 21-15 lead at the half.
The Blue Devils came out of the locker room playing inspired basketball. Hatch made a beautiful pass to L.J. Seidel, who was standing under the basket and made a layup to cut the lead to four. Bellwood-Antis forced turnovers on the Rockets\’ next two possessions, but failed to take advantage.
After a Speck basket, Christner made the third of his four 3-pointers to make it a one possession game, but after Josh Jones made a basket for the Rockets, Christner was unable to take advantage of a wide open layup, and the Blue Devils never recovered.
Southern Huntingdon scored the next 14 points to take a 37-20 advantage, and the Blue Devils\’ hope for an upset seemed gone to everyone but themselves.
Down by 19 with 1:59 to play, the Blue Devils went into a full court press and with the help of hustle and 3-pointers from Winterstein and Christner, they got back within 10 points before the final buzzer.
Despite the success of the full court press, Keech felt going to it earlier wouldn\’t have changed the outcome.
\”I think you have to temper our run with the fact that their coach put a lot of their second team in there. We left our starters in their, because we\’re not real deep, and we\’re not ever going to give up, but I\’m just not sure over the course of the whole game it would have helped us,\” Keech said.
The win moves Southern Huntingdon to 5-1 and Bellwood-Antis to 3-3.
\”Southern Huntingdon made all the little plays tonight. I think they hustled to loose balls, they got second and third shots off the boards, and we weren\’t strong when we kicked the ball back out to our guards. It was a big game for us, but it\’s not the end of the world, because I\’m going to find out what kind of team I have in practice tomorrow. If they come in ready to go to work, I\’m going to feel pretty good,\” Keech said.
Junior Varsity
Tyler Elvey scored 16 points, all in the second half, and Alan Wertz added 12 to help the Blue Devils overcome Southern Huntingdon 46-28 in junior varsity action. Nathan Goshorn scored 13 points in a losing effort.
Southern Huntingdon 48 Bellwood-Antis 38
SOUTHERN HUNTINGDON – Scharrs 5 2-2 12, Baer 1 5-7 7, Jones 1 3-4 5, Nevder 4 0-0 8, Speck 3 0-0 6, Crull 3 0-0 6, Miller 0 1-4 1, Goshorn 0 1-3 1, Kling 1 0-1 2. TOTALS 18 12-21 48.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Hatch 2 0-0 4, Winterstein 2 4-6 10, Christner 4 1-2 13, Seidel 1 0-0 2, Wertz 1 2-4 4, Boone 1 0-0 2, Elvey 1 1-2 3, DeGol 0 0-0 0, McCrum 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 12 8-14 38.
Score by Quarter
Southern Huntingdon 11 10 14 13 – 48
Bellwood-Antis 8 7 5 18 – 38
Three-point goals: Southern Huntingdon: None. Bellwood-Antis 6 (Christner 4, Winterstein 2).
Southern Huntingdon 28 Bellwood-Antis 46 (Junior Varsity Game)
SOUTHERN HUNTINGDON – Booher 1 0-0 2, Hockenberry 2 0-0 4, Kling 0 1-4 1, Goshorn 4 4-4 13, Gomez 3 0-0 6, Knepper 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 11 5-8 28.
BELLWOOD-ANTIS – Elvey 6 0-0 16, Wertz 6 0-0 12, McCrum 1 3-5 5, Dunn 1 0-0 2, DeGol 1 0-2 2, Miller 3 0-0 7, Cook 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 19 3-7 46.
Score by Quarter
Southern Huntingdon 2 7 8 11 – 28
Bellwood-Antis 9 8 18 14 – 46
